It was my intent to write a very different blog this morning [Wednesday]. However I was tuned into NBC-TV's "Today Show" and caught the interview with Glenn Beck. To say his boorish behavior was nauseating would be an understatement. He had a very difficult time allowing Meredith to finish her questions of him before butting in with his arrogant, self-congratulatory "answer." There actually were not answers, there were self-proclamations about himself and how great he is. And FOX and others pay this buffoon about $25 million a year for such self-boasting. Disgusting.

And then I turned on the computer and read that the newly elected Governor of Alabama, swept in with the Tea Party tide, speaking at Dexter Street Baptist Church in Montgomery where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. once served as pastor, ...the Governor stated that if you do not believe in Jesus you are not his brother or sister. He refered to whom he will serve as the governor. How's that for a "take" on Christianity ...to say nothing of the U.S. Constitution? Such distortion and self-elevation is becoming commonplace in today's political, cultural, and religious climate. It is indeed sickening.

These two repulsive acts come on the edge of Martin Luther King Day, and the death of Sargent Shriver. Mr. Shriver helped found the Peace Corps and the Job Corps. He was the epitome of service to one's fellow man. He used his fame and influence for the betterment of society and all of humanity, especially those underserved in the world and in the U.S. He helped in starting the Special Olympics.

I ask each of you to place into proper perspective the "contributions" of Glenn Beck and the new Governor of Alabama, and place them next to what is represented by Martin Luther King and Sargent Shriver. As I said in my recent blog entry, somehow we have become a "twisted society."

Please, now more than ever, I ask each of you to dedicate yourself to helping those underserved. There are a multitude of ways to do that. You do not have to have money, college degrees, status, etc.; all you need is you. Step forward as King and Shriver did. The need is great. Service is a high calling. Don't give until it hurts, give until it stops hurting. You are needed. Your unselfish presence in some service capacity represents the best that America can offer. You know it. Step forward.

"There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed." -Albert Schweitzer

"Every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary." -Nathan Hale

"The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers." -Martin Luther King